The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
San Francisco
Drama · Romance · Music · 1936
A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.
Movie details
San Francisco
“She Fell In Love . . . with the toughest guy on the toughest street in the world!”
1936 Drama · Romance · Music 1h 55m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.6 / 10
Community rating
A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over San Francisco?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
W.S. Van Dyke
Written by
Anita Loos · Robert E. Hopkins · Herman J. Mankiewicz
Clark Gable
Blackie Norton
Jeanette MacDonald
Mary Blake
Spencer Tracy
Father Tim Mullin
Jack Holt
Jack Burley
Jessie Ralph
Mrs. Maisie Burley
Ted Healy
Mat
Shirley Ross
Trixie
Court is in session
Put San Francisco on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.